Lightning ignites brush fires

A brush fire west of Mountain Home burns near a fence line late Tuesday evening.Photo courtesy of Mountain Home Rural Fire District.

Dry lightning strikes were again responsible for starting two brush fires Tuesday evening, with the Lamberton Fire burning mostly grass about four miles west of Mountain Home and another one, the Canyon Fire, burning grass and brush eleven miles southwest of the city towards Bruneau.

Gusty wind speeds of 10-20 mph caused the blaze located north of Airbase Road to quickly spread, eventually burning approximately 300 acres, according to Fire Chief Phil Gridley.

A rapid response by the Mountain Home Rural Fire District, the BLM, and Grand View Fire Department had the fire mostly contained within a few hours.

"We had called in some tanker aircraft because it looked like it was moving pretty fast but we had the manpower to attack it quickly so we didn't need to use them, " said Assistant Fire Chief Bud Corbus.

Also sparked by lightning strikes, the Canyon Fire southwest of Mountain Home had burned more than 200 acres by Wednesday morning but was expected to be contained by afternoon.

"They had more crews responding to the Mountain Home fire so we diverted the aircraft down to Bruneau to fight that fire," explained Ben Sitz, a Unit Superintendent with the BLM in Hammett.

Conditions will again be ripe for fires today with hot temperatures and gusty winds in the weather forecast.